recherchéevsrecherchésWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“recherchée” and “recherchés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,224
“recherchée” frequency rank
#14,547
“recherchés” frequency rank
30771
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature recherchée recherchés
Definition Féminin singulier de recherché. Masculin pluriel de recherché.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set recherchée and recherchés apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

10 ch
recherchée
10 ch
recherchés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. recherchée and recherchés are pronounced identically (\ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃe\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - e in “recherchée” becomes s in “recherchés”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30771, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

recherchée is recorded at frequency rank #16,224, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃe\. recherchés is at rank #14,547, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃe\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 30771, this pair ranks #308,104 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of recherchée vs recherchés

Shared letters: cehré. Private to "recherchée": -. Private to "recherchés": s.

"recherchée" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVV  ·  "recherchés" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC

Frequency comparison

recherchée#16,224
recherchés#14,547

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "recherchée" and "recherchés" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ʁə.ʃɛʁ.ʃe\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "recherchée" or "recherchés"?
"recherchés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,547 in our French list, against #16,224 for "recherchée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering recherchée vs recherchés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “recherchée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list